Thursday, October 4, 2012

And, Besides, It's Purple!

The next few weeks are going
to be filled with preparations for SOAR.
Spin-Off Autumn Retreatis the premier annual spinning event in the USA. It is sponsored by Interweave Press, and this
year is held in Tahoe City,
California, October 21-27.

I’ll have 80 workshop
participants in my 6 days of workshops.
That’s a lot. I’ve got to make
sure I have sufficient supplies and all the needed equipment, including a
spinning wheel! Earlier this year, I
decided to get a Lendrum folding wheel for traveling. I’ve spent a good amount of time spinning on
this wheel, and I do love how it works.
It’s a fine wheel and does all the things I want it to do.

But it’s big. Folded up, it’s 29 inches long, 19 inches
wide, and 7 inches deep. When I flew to
South Dakota last month for the North Country Fiber Fair, I shipped this wheel in its original box,
which worked just fine, but that cardboard box isn’t going to last forever.

I needed a suitcase. A hardshell suitcase. One that is big enough for my wheel. Over the past few months, I have come to
realize that the size of the Lendrum is a bit of a limiting factor. I had friends who were confident they had an
old suitcase that would be big enough. Regrettably,
no.

I had to resort to actually
shopping for a new suitcase. Perhaps you
can tell that I’m not an enthusiastic shopper (unless of course the shopping is
for fiber stuff). I had to build up the
courage to go from place to place.

First stop, Goodwill. No hardshell suitcases at all. Then, to TJMaxx: Some hardshell suitcases, but the biggest
ones were ever so slightly too small for the wheel. Macy’s led to success. They had a wide array of hardshell suitcases,
but only one brand was large enough for the wheel. The case was available in three colors: silver, blue, and purple. Of course I chose purple.